1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an adapter for connecting two sections of tubing together, or in the alternative, to connect a syringe to a tubing. More specifically, the present invention relates to a quick connect/disconnect tubing adapter which provides a large sealing area and is activated, for connection or disconnection, by merely pulling apart two body halves and/or twisting them 90.degree. relative to each other.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Heretofore various tubing adapters have been proposed primarily for use in the field of angiography. Typically, such an angiographic catheter adapter is provided for capturing an end of a tubing and connecting same to a syringe whereby the syringe can be emptied into the catheter tubing in a sterile, bubble-free manner, such as when one is injecting a radio-opaque dye into a patient's body during angiography.
A typical and well known adapter used in this field is known as a Tuey-Borst connector. Such a connector is provided with a rotatable collar and a valve for preventing backflow. However, it is very cumbersome to use inasmuch as a user of this connector requires a "third hand" to use the connector and to open and close a valve in the connector.
Also, special fittings for capturing an end of a tubing are required for this connector and only a particular size of tubing can be used with this connector without modification of the connector.
The use of a quick connect/disconnect tubing adapter constructed according to the teachings of the present invention provides a number of advantages over the Tuey-Borst connector, both in design and use.
First of all, no special fittings for the adapter are required to capture a tubing end in the adapter, and several different sizes of tubing can be accommodated by the same adapter.
Secondly, by placement of two such adapters back-to-back, several tubings of various size can be "spliced" together without modification of the tubing ends.
Also the action required to connect and disconnect the adapter to and from a tubing end is simple and quick, requiring only finger manipulation.
Further, the path formed through the adapter is kept sterile more easily than the path through other adapters such as the Tuey-Borst connector.
The above advantages of the quick connect/disconnect tubing adapter of the present invention will be described in more detail hereinafter in a connector with the description of the preferred embodiment of the adapter of the present invention.